Heat Wave! - Unit 3 Week 2

Oct 16, 2026

Lesson plan for Unit 3, Week 2 centered on a tall-tale story “Heat Wave!” set on a Kansas farm during an extreme heat event. It guides teachers to use big ideas about quick, creative thinking to address challenges, then supports independent and read-aloud instruction with text-dependent questions, vocabulary study, and discussion strategies. Culminating and optional tasks prompt students to explain how the narrator’s problem-solving unfolds through multiple examples.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatDOC

Pages9

Reading Time23 min

AccessFree to download

Teacher Instructions

Big Ideas and Key Understandings

Synopsis

During Teaching

Text Dependent Questions

Vocabulary

Culminating Task

Additional Tasks

Note to Teacher

Supports for English Language Learners (ELLs)

Unit 3/Week 2 Title: Heat Wave! Suggested Time: 5 days (45 minutes per day) Common Core ELA Standards: RL.4.1, RL.4.2, RL.4.3, RL.4.4, RL.4.6; RF.4.3, RF.4.4; W.4.2, W.4.4, W.4.9; SL.4.1, SL.4.2; L.4.1, L.4.2, L.4.3, L.4.4, L.4.5, L.4.6 Teacher Instructions Refer to the Introduction for further details. Before Teaching Read the Big Ideas and Key Understandings and the Synopsis. Please do not read this to the students. This is a description for teachers, about the big ideas and key understanding that students should take away after completing this task. Big Ideas and Key Understandings When life presents problems or challenges, quick, creative thinking can provide solutions. Synopsis A fantastic heat wave hits a Kansas farm, roasting the geese, popping the corn in the fields, and causing other distressing events. The farm girl tries a few clever ways to get rid of it, and finally succeeds when she plants iceberg lettuce. Read entire main selection text, keeping in mind the Big Ideas and Key Understandings. Re-read the main selection text while noting the stopping points for the Text Dependent Questions and teaching Vocabulary. During Teaching Students read the entire main selection text independently. Teacher reads the main selection text aloud with students following along. (Depending on how complex the text is and the amount of support needed by students, the teacher may choose to reverse the order of steps 1 and 2.) Students and teacher re-read the text while stopping to respond to and discuss the questions and returning to the text. A variety of methods can be used to structure the reading and discussion (i.e.: whole class discussion, think-pair-share, independent written response, group work, etc.) Text Dependent Questions Text Dependent Questions Answers Reread the 1st paragraph on page 361. If Hank ‘changes his tune’, what will he do? He will stop teasing and/or think that girls can be farmers. What happened to the geese in the story that wouldn’t happen in real life? (Pg. 361) They flew into the cloud and were cooked. Tall tales are characterized by exaggeration. Reread page 363. What exaggerated events occur to indicate the evidence of a heat wave? The mercury blasted out of the thermometer like a rocket, and the flowers crawled under the porch looking for shade. How does the word “snagged” on page 365, help us understand what happened to the Heat Wave? The Heat Wave got caught on the weather vane and stuck over the farm. In this tall tale, describe what the author is communicating about the dog’s exaggerated response when it sees the ‘blizzard of popcorn’ on page 365. The word ‘froze’ in this sentence has multiple meanings. Because this is a tall tale the dog actually freezes due to the word ‘blizzard’ indicating cold, but in reality he would have stopped in surprise at events occurring on the farm. Reread page 367 where the narrator’s quick thinking solved the popcorn problem. What steps did she take to ease the cows’ suffering and rid the field of popcorn? They milked the cows and got butter instead of milk so they cleaned the shovels and pickup trucks, buttered the popcorn with butter from the cows and sold it at the drive-in. Reread the sentence on page 371, ‘I figured it was time to take on the Heat Wave.’ What is the narrator’s idea and the steps of her plan to ‘take on the Heat Wave’? She made bread dough, the heat wave cooked it, the smell attracted the crows who at the bread. The beating of the crow’s wings made wind, which cooled the heat wave. Reread page 375. What is the narrator’s final idea and what evidence from the story demonstrates that this idea solved the problem of the Heat Wave? She planted iceberg lettuce and cooled the air. ‘The weather vane and the barn cooled down, and the cows stopped steaming.’ What evidence from the story indicates that the final solution worked too well and what was the effect? (Pg. 376) She miscalculated the amount of lettuce and planted too much which caused an ear

FAQs

What big idea and key understanding frame the lesson?

The lesson centers on the idea that when life presents problems or challenges, quick, creative thinking can provide solutions.

What happens to the geese in the story that would not happen in real life?

The geese fly into the cloud and are cooked, which is not realistic.

How does the narrator finally solve the heat wave?

She plants iceberg lettuce to cool the air, and the story shows the weather vane and barn cool down while the cows stop steaming.

Oct 16, 2026

Uploaded by eBook King